Invitation to Participate in the Pre-Qualification Stage of a Public Tender for the Supply of Current Research Information System (CRIS) and Request for Information

The Israeli Inter University Computation Center (the "IUCC") hereby invites eligible participants to participate in the Pre-Qualification Stage of a Public Tender for the Supply of Current Research Information System (CRIS) and Request for Information, all as stipulated herein:

1. The IUCC intends to issue public tender for the Supply of a Current Research Information System (CRIS) (the   "Project" and the "Tender", respectively).

2. Prior to issuing the Tender, the IUCC wishes to conduct a preliminary process of pre-qualification, through which it will classify relevant participants for the Tender (the "PQ"). Together with the PQ, the IUCC issues a request for information ("RFI") in order to receive information from such participants on different subjects relating to the CRIS system and its abilities.

3. The preliminary process of PQ will be the first stage of a two-stage selection process to select the entity which will perform the Project, that is intended to be followed by the Tender process, in which those participants which will have been deemed to comply with the requirements of the PQ, will be invited to participate.

4. As specified in the invitation for the PQ and RFI and its appendices (the "Invitation"), only Participants who fully meet all the threshold requirements stipulated in this Section 4 may be considered as Eligible Participant:

4.1. A Participant, who supplied and installed at least thirty (30) CRIS Systems (in this section: the "Systems") that were operational during the two (2) years prior to the Submission Date in universities and/or institutions of higher education, who use the System as their main research management system.

4.2. Each of the Systems specified in section ‎5.3.1 above:

4.2.1. Installed in institutions that:

4.2.1.1. Are ranked among the top 700 in either Shanghai 2017, Times Higher Education 2017 or QS 2017 rankings;

4.2.1.2. Have at least 200 full time research academic staff.

4.2.2. Is working in accordance with standardized metadata and complies with the Common European Research Information Format (CERIF);

4.2.3. Is able to automatically import data from internal institutional information systems including, but not limited to Human-Resources, student administration, Grants, Publications, Communications, Teaching, and Library.

4.2.4. Automatically imports information (including for example: title, authors names and affiliation, journal title, volume, issue, pages, date and DOI and whenever possible citation statistics and metrics) at least from the two major external databases of publications meta-data – Scopus and Web of Science; Each record should specify all the relevant attributes.

The Participants shall pay attention to additional restrictions on participation as detailed in the Invitation Documents.

5. Together with the PQ the IUCC issues the RFI in order to solicit information relevant to the Project from the Participants with experience and expertise in similar projects. The information required and the specific inquiries of the IUCC are listed in the Invitation Documents.

6. For the removal of doubt, it is clarified, that the RFI is not a condition for participation in the PQ. The IUCC may, but is not obligated to, use the information it receives during the course of the RFI for the purpose of executing any further proceedings (if any). Participation in the RFI does not provide an advantage to any Participant, nor shall it deem to grant the Participant with any rights towards the IUCC.

7. The Invitation Documents shall be available for review at the IUCC offices located at Tel-Aviv University Campus, Software Engineering Building, Tel-Aviv, Sundays through Thursdays, between 8:00 to 17:00 (Israel Time), and on the IUCC website at: http://il.iucc.ac.il/he/michrazim/open (the "Website").

8. Any questions and/or inquiries shall be addressed in writing to the undersigned to facsimile number: 972-3-6460557, E-mail: sigal@mail.iucc.ac.il . Those making inquiries should request verification of the receipt of any such inquiries through Tel: 972-3-6460551.

9. Any clarification and/or change and/or update which will be issued with respect to the PQ and RFI process, shall constitute and form an integral part of the Invitation Documents and shall be attached to the Invitation published on the Website and available at the IUCC's offices, in a manner which shall allow any participant wishing to review the Invitation to also review any clarification and/or change and/or update thereto which were issued by the IUCC until the date of such review. It is emphasized, that each participant shall be required to follow any clarification and/or change and/or update with respect to the PQ and RFI process which will be published on the Website.

10. The Participant's RFI Response and the PQ Response shall be submitted to the IUCC and delivered to the designated tenders box located at Tel-Aviv University Campus, Software Engineering Building – 4th Floor, Tel-Aviv 6997801, Israel, (the "Tender Box"), during business hours (Sunday through Thursday between the hours: 9:00-17:00) and no later than January 22, 2018 at 16:00 (the "Submission Date").

11. This notice contains general and preliminary information only. Further conditions and requirements with respect to the PQ and RFI process are as detailed in the Invitation. The IUCC reserves the right to annul and revise the conditions of the PQ and RFI process and its schedule, all in accordance with the provisions of the Invitation. In the event of any discrepancy between this advertisement and the Invitation Documents, the provisions of the Invitation Documents shall prevail.